As will be appreciated, there have been a wide variety of systems for collating and binding signatures in a binding line operation. One prior type of collating and binding system is disclosed in commonly owned U.S. Pat. No. 4,121,818 of Riley et al. which discloses a plurality of signature feeders disposed adjacent a conveyor wherein the signature feeders are individually operated by a programmable controller so that customized books are built in accordance with information contained on a magnetic tape. In addition, means are provided along the conveyor to detect defective books which are removed by a diverter operated by the programmable controller.
As disclosed in Riley et al., the system is particularly useful to permit customized information and/or signatures to be placed in books produced during a single production run. In other words, each book can be customized for the person to whom it is to be sent. Then, these books are collated and bound in a predetermined sequence for bundling for the purpose of taking advantage of postal discounts or to otherwise meet postal regulations.
The assembling of customized books in a particular sequence to permit bundling according to postal regulations was difficult to achieve in an optimal fashion in the event a defective book was detected, rejected and reordered. In such a case, the Riley et al. system compared the mailing information of the defective book with the mailing information of the book adjacent the first signature feeder (or the "most recent book") to determine the optimal time to reorder the book. For example, if the defective book and the most recent book had the same zip code, the defective book could be immediately reordered and grouped with other books having the same zip code to obtain postal discounts.
On the other hand, if the zip code of the most recent book was different than that of the defective book, then the defective book was reordered following the last book within the same sectional center facility destination. Thus, the time for reordering was determined in accordance with a comparison of the mailing information of the defective book with the mailing information of the most recent book on the conveyor. However, in some cases, the book might no longer be able to qualify for a certain postal discount because of the zip code sequence and might instead be subject to a higher postal rate than other books that did so qualify.
By way of example, a book might originally be classified in a discount classification along with other books that are to be delivered to the same five digit zip code area. If this book was found to be defective for some reason and was reordered at a time such that it no longer was grouped with other books of the same zip code, then this book could not qualify for the discount postage rate previously applicable. As for the Riley et al. system, it was not capable of generating an indication of the change in postage, if any, caused by the reordering by the defective book.
Also, it could sometimes happen that the reordering of a defective book might cause not only the reordered book to be subject to a higher postage rate but also cause the other books with which the reordered book was originally grouped to be subject to a higher rate since the remaining books might not meet the minimum requirements either in terms of number or weight for the postal discount.
In order to address these problems, commonly owned U.S. Pat. No. 4,674,052 of Wong et al. and U.S. Pat. No. Re. 32,690 of Wong proposed various solutions. These patents generally address the problem of generating an indication of the incremental increase in postage for a grouping of books which originally qualified for a postal discount but which no longer qualify due to the reordering of one or more books in the group as well as the problem of reordering a defective book which originally qualified for a postal discount at a point in the sequence wherein the book qualifies for another postal discount or, if unavailable, at a point in the sequence which causes the book to be classified in the highest postal rate category. While these represent significant advancements in the art, still another possible means for qualifying books for postal discounts has been substantially unavailable.
Specifically, there has been no entirely satisfactory system for merging different book titles for postal discount purposes. Thus, while there have been certain existing co-mailing devices such as those known as demo-mailers, merge mailers and co-minglers, they have not been suitable for accomplishing the objective of co-mailing, i.e., merging various magazine titles such as Time, Sports Illustrated, Newsweek, etc. (hereinafter referred to as "diverse publications") where such titles or publications have been bound and addressed on one or more binding lines at the same or different locations, in order to present direct packages to the U.S. Postal Service presorted by zip code and carrier route, to take full advantage of postal discounts. At present, an analysis shows that co-mailing in such manner can serve to reduce postage to a commercially significant degree.
Moreover, it is essential for any such co-mailing to be able to handle selectively gathered or personalized books and in a manner unlike the existing co-mailing devices mentioned hereinabove. These have been both undesirably slow and labor intensive and, as such, they cannot be economically or successfully utilized on a commercial basis for such purposes. As a result, it has remained to provide a co-mailing system and method for merging various magazine titles into a single mail stream to achieve the highest level of mail sortation for receiving maximum postage discounts.
The present invention is directed to overcoming one or more of the foregoing problems and achieving one or more of the resulting objects.